How to Easily Set Your Financial Goal

If you truly desire your money to work for you then you need to tell your money what to do. If you do not know what you want your money to do, you will find your money going to waste month after month. Knowing what you want needs to be step one in the process of creating wealth. nnWhen deciding on your financial goal, always begin with the ending in mind. What kind of financial shape do you desire to be in 10 years from now? What kind of lifestyle do you want to be living? nnDo you want the mortgage paid off? Do you want to be saving for your child’s college education? How much do you want for retirement savings? What age do you want to retire at?nnFor example, I have set a goal to be debt free by April 2009. This is going to be tough considering the fact that I am $72,900 in debt right now. I have actually set up a blog to track my progress towards debt freedom.nnWhen you are planning a road trip, the first decision is always where you want to go. The answers to the above questions will be on our financial road map to tell us the final destination for our money. nnThe second step in planning is to clarify your short term goals. What do you want to achieve in the next 2-5 years? Do you plan to have a baby? Buy a home? Buy a different vehicle? Go on a extensive vacation? Pay off your credit cards? nnThe answers to these questions are the paths you will follow on the journey to the end destination. nnNext you need to determine what needs to be done on a daily and monthly basis to be able to achieve all of your goals. It is better to break each individual goal down into steps so you can feel a sense of accomplishment after each step is completed. nnHere is an example on how to break a large financial goal down into smaller steps:nnGoal- Save 20% for a down payment plus money for closing costs on a new homenn1. Save 3% for closing costs on my new homen2. Save 5% towards my down paymentn3. Save 10% towards my down paymentn4. Save 15% towards my down paymentn5. Save 20% towards my down paymentnnThis gives you five milestones to celebrate and helps keep you on track so you don't get overwhelmed by the big picture. During each step just concentrate on getting through that one step as quickly as possible. nnThis will give you focus and drive and by having the steps small and obtainable it will keep your motivation level high.nnI find that having a well defined goal with a set date gives me the motivation to keep going. I have been paying down debts by earning extra money online. nnYou are welcome to visit my blog to discover how I am doing on my own financial goal.